Egyptians pray at Cairo's Tahrir Square on February 18, 2011 during celebrations marking one week after Egypt's long-time president Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office by a wave of protests. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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There's blood and chaos in the revolutions wracking the Arab world, but there's also a new dignity and hope rising from the smoldering ashes of years of repression, reports Jeffrey Fleischman in the LA Times. Such feelings were an important part of the pan-Arabism of the 1950s, but decades of misrule and corruption left the Arab spirit broken. "Dignity became what they were looking for," says a Jordanian writer of the protesters. "This was the essence of the rage."

Although no one knows how these uprisings will turn out, for the moment, Tunisians, Egyptians, Syrians, and others around the region are all working together and pulling for each other. "It's different being an Egyptian after the revolution," said one construction worker. Says a Yemeni: "I see what is happening in Egypt and in Tunisia and Libya, and I think, they are my brothers. I have never met them, but we are brothers. We are all Arabs. We have a long history, and now we are standing up together and saying, 'We are free people.'"

You will notice how the shared feeling of brotherness being experienced out there is referred to as an 'Arab' phenomenon and not a 'Muslim' one. This is a very important distinction which many who are wary should note. Islamic fundamentalism has played no part in the wave of popular revolution that has taken place over the past weeks. The grievances are economic and political, not religious, and the West should learn from its mistakes and support the popular struggle for democracy, even if it means losing some economic control in the region. In the long term, we have to learn to live with a self-determined Arab region and to supress it, or to support suppression, as is so obvious with the Palestinian issue, will lead to further agony at home and abroad.

finkster

Feb 27, 2011 8:39 PM CST

We shall see.

RandomCitizen

Feb 27, 2011 6:16 PM CST

Saudi Arabia... still waiting. Poor giant US oil companies... As if environmental pressure wasn't enough, now they'll have free people to worry about.